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this video
took 11 years to make and for the first
time ever
i want to share it with you because i
think
it can help someone this
is the story of opportunity
it's the story of how i went from being
a village kid to getting into harvard
university
in the us and trust me this is not
a normal story see i grew up
in the middle east as a palestinian
israeli
and if you come from that background you
don't get
many opportunities you're stuck in
politics
forever and you live your life here
hoping that one day you can succeed in
life
you just need a little bit of help
[Music]
almost 11 years ago i got that help
an american woman from ohio named
martha was invited by my english teacher
to come
to our classroom and teach us english
for one hour she came as a volunteer
every year to villages like mine
to teach english and when she walked
through that door
she was the first american i met in my
life
immediately i fell in love with her and
her family
immediately i connected with her son and
we became
email buddies pen pal buddies
after a few months of email exchanges
one day martha invited me
to their home in ohio she said hey
we know you like america why don't you
come
and visit us for one month and we will
take care of all
your expenses this
was the first opportunity in my life
to go and explore the united states
i jumped on that opportunity
one month later i was on a plane from my
village to another village called dayton
ohio for one month a jewish american
family
hosted a muslim arab kid in their home
the jacobs we are the jacobs of dayton
ohio i became
part of their family and fell in love
with their culture um it was
exciting for you you were curious and
open you stayed here at the house with
our four sons
you stayed down in the basement you were
kind of excited and curious about
everything
and one day martha gave me another
opportunity
she said i should go and visit harvard
i didn't know what harvard was i thought
it was a place
that only smart people go so i had
nothing to do with it i am not
smart enough she didn't listen to me
she flew me from ohio to boston
to go meet her son eli who's a student
at harvard why did you send me there
because i thought you were really smart
and i thought it'd be interesting for
you to see it i didn't know that you'd
end up going there
but i thought you could apply there i
thought you were perfectly capable of
applying there and possibly getting in
and when i landed on campus as a tourist
my world changed people were not as
smart
as we think they were normal people like
you
and me and that inspired me
i flew back home immediately and bought
many books i improved my english
salmon salmon salmon salmon
i learned about harvard admission i
studied
and studied and studied and a few months
later
i applied and to my surprise
harvard said yes
and gave me a full scholarship
to study there this made me the first
harvard college student to enter
from my village and exactly one year
after my visit i flew to boston again
but this time not as a tourist but as a
harvard student
i made friends i learned a lot and i
graduated
with a harvard degree i went to new york
got a really good job
and made money and then i started nas
daily i traveled the world created
videos
connected with millions of people
published a book
and started a real company
this video isn't about me
it's about opportunity the village kid
in me needed opportunity i needed
someone to open the door
just a little bit to show me the light
and i'm so lucky that someone did that
for me
my parents gave me opportunity to be
free
and explore what i like my english
teacher jamal assadi
gave me opportunity and invited martha
to come to our
english class and martha's family
gave me opportunity to grow
you know well you know you give people
opportunities
and whether or not they take advantage
of it or appreciate it is
it's up to them i don't know why she
cared
i don't know why she hosted me for a
month
i don't know why she said i should go to
harvard i am so glad she did
but i do know this if you want to change
someone's life you don't need to build
skyscrapers or invent machines
you just need to give someone out there
an opportunity to succeed
give them advice jobs love money
support whatever your opportunity
can change someone's life forever
thank you and see you next week
before you go one last thing that video
you just saw i made
using this camera and this microphone
but
for the first time ever i'm ditching my
camera
and i'm picking up my podcasting
equipment
because yes i'm starting a podcast
it's called nostalks it's free and it's
only on spotify
and if you liked that video i think
you're going to love the podcast
because i just wanted to make a podcast
about things that
i would listen to about topics that i
want to listen to
yes not stocks is 100 honest
and raw and deep and by the way it's 100
free so keep your money and give me your
ears
because if you like this video i think
you're gonna love this podcast see you
on spotify
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